From Deep to Deep

SUMMARY

Karl Ihfe preaches on the story of Jonah, examining our human instinct to run from God's calling. Jonah's clear disobedience—heading west to Tarshish when God told him to go east to Nineveh—wasn't due to confusion about God's will, but because he knew exactly who God was: "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love" (Jonah 4:2). Jonah didn't want the Assyrians, Israel's brutal enemies, to experience God's mercy. Karl draws parallels between Jonah sleeping in the storm and Jesus calming the storm, highlighting how Jonah created chaos while Jesus brings peace from it.

The sermon emphasizes that God's grace pursues us even in our rebellion. When Jonah found himself in the depths—literally in the belly of a fish—he cried out to God, and even there, God heard him. Karl points out that sometimes what looks like God's judgment (the fish swallowing Jonah) is actually His mercy (saving Jonah from drowning). The most beautiful part of the story is found in Jonah 3:1: "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time"—God offers second chances. Karl challenges the congregation to stop running from whatever God is calling them to, whether it's generosity, reconciliation, service, or surrender, reminding them that God's grace runs faster and lasts longer than our resistance ever could.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, welcome to Broadway in person or online. We're glad that you've chosen to spend part of your day with us today. For those here in the auditorium, want to remind you, about two weeks from now, we'll be celebrating Easter Sunday together. We've created those cards. You heard about that in the announcements this morning.

We have those on the way out if you want to grab those. It's a great thing. You can drop it in the mail to a friend. You can take it to the office, maybe around the neighborhood and just make an invite. We got a special service we're planning.

How sweet is it to begin worship with a baptism. We're almost in the habit of every other Sunday doing that. I would love for us to be in the habit of every Sunday doing that. Easter Sunday is going to begin with a baptism, you guys. I'm so excited.

Cannot wait for that morning. I hope you'll be praying about it and would invite those who are maybe far from God or who haven't heard the gospel before. Maybe not in a way that matters. I hope that you'll invite them to come and spend that morning with us. If you have your Bible, I invite you to turn over to Jonah.

We're gonna look at the story of Jonah this morning in our series Rescue. I think most of us know that instinct to run, don't we? When a hard conversation comes our way. Or maybe it's at the office and they're trying to give you a responsibility that you're not really interested in taking on. Maybe it's something else, a situation that scares us.

We have this instinct almost just to run, this sense of relief. We hope. Sometimes it's literal, sometimes it's emotional, Sometimes it's spiritual. We avoid that phone call that we know we need to make. Or we avoid that decision that we know we need to make.

Or maybe it's we want to change the subject when it comes up in conversation. We distract ourselves from anything and everything that would keep us from facing the one thing we know we need to do. Maybe it's not just me. Maybe that sounds familiar to you. Running away can feel like a relief in the moment.

But if you've been alive for very long and you've tried running, you recognize running never makes things better. It only makes things harder. The issue doesn't go away because the issue follows you wherever you go. Sometimes, if we're honest, we're not just running from situations or circumstances or even people. Sometimes we're running from God.

Maybe it's something that God has asked us to do. Or maybe it's some place that God has asked us to go, or to someone that God has asked us to interact with, engage with. Sometimes it's from ourselves. We don't want to become the person that God's challenging us to become. And when we run from God, it doesn't mean we've stopped believing in him or even being able to see and know what he's up to in our lives.

Sometimes. Sometimes it's in fact because of that, because we know what God is doing. We know exactly what he wants. We just don't want to do it.

That's where Jonah finds himself in our story today. But Jonah's story also reminds us of a hope that I hope will cling to this morning. Even when we run from God, his grace never stops pursuing us. It meets us in the depths and it restores us back to our calling. See, the book of Jonah opens up with this really clear word from God to Jonah.

We're told the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitti. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. It's very clear. We know where he's supposed to go, we know who he's supposed to talk to, and we're told why. Now, what's interesting is Jonah's response is also very clear.

There's no confusion in his response, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and he headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port, and after paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. No confusion about Jonah's response. We know where he's going, we know why he's going, and we know what he's doing. But, you know, if we dig into the background of the story, maybe some of you are familiar with the story, have done this work, but if you haven't, let me just remind you a little bit of the context that's going on, and it might help us understand why Jonah's response was so vivid and so clear to what God said.

Because this isn't the typical response that we see in one of God's prophets when he calls them to go speak a word. You see, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the Assyrians weren't just political rivals of the Israelites, they were their mortal enemies. The Assyrians were brutal, they were violent, they were cruel. Nineveh represented everything that Jonah hated about those who didn't know and follow God. And so when God sends word to Jonah, go to Nineveh.

It's not just that Jonah doesn't like the calling.

I would imagine it feels like a very betrayal of the man that Jonah has become, of everything that he's built his life upon. That now God is supposed to. Now Jonah is supposed to go to the one place to speak to the one people that if they just disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep. Now, again, before we get too far down the judgy road on Jonah, let's stop and ask ourselves, who is that group for you? If you woke up in the morning and those folks were gone, that you would lose no sleep?

You would think, we're better off. We're better off. That's Jonah. I think that's why in verse three, it's pretty clear that Jonah's response is so decisive. And I think it's why twice in that verse, we're told, he's running away from God.

He's fleeing from the Lord. God says, Jonah, I want you to go east. And Jonah says, I'm going to go west. In fact, I'm going to go as far west as humanly possible in that day to go. Tarshish was basically the opposite end of the known world.

That's where Jonah's headed, you see. He's not just kind of stepping back, trying to clear his head. Okay, what am I going to do? No, no, he is running away from what God has called him to do. Now, here's what's interesting.

Jonah doesn't refuse his assignment because he's unclear about what God wants him to do.

And he doesn't refuse his assignment because, well, I just don't believe in God anymore. Actually, it's because he believes in God, we learn a little later in the story. He refuses because he knows exactly who God is and exactly how he operates. That's why I don't want to go right in chapter four to Jonah, after God has relented from his anger and he's shown mercy to these people.

To Jonah, this seemed wrong and he became angry. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love, A God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, just take away my life.

For it's better for me to die than to live right Obnoxious. So boisterous. And loud. But how many of us have felt the same way? Listen, if I gotta share with those dudes, I'm not interested.

If being a part of this family means I have to accept them, no way right now, we'd never say that out loud. We'd never pray like this to God.

God, if I have to accept those people. And you guys know who those people are.

See, Jonah knows the risk of preaching at Nineveh. And as a kid, we think it's because he's scared, because they're so big, bag and scary. But what we learned, that's not why Jonah knows the risk of preaching in Nineveh is they might respond.

Now, again, as bizarre and as twisted as that may sound, they might actually listen to him. And if that happens, I just can't take the chance. So Jonah runs. You see, sometimes our disobedience works similarly, doesn't it?

I'm just still praying about it, still trying to discern. That's what the Lord wants me to do, right? We know you know that's what the Lord wants you to do. You're just not sure. You haven't discerned if you're going to do it, if you're going to respond in obedience.

You see, the issue isn't logistics. I just don't know how to make it happen. No, the issue is right in the middle of our chest.

You see, maybe God's been nudging you toward generosity, and you're trying to decide, am I going to stay selfish? Maybe God's been nudging you toward reconciliation. But man, holding on to this resentment, there's a power in that.

Maybe God's been nudging you toward serving, but your tendency is to want to sit back, hang back a little bit. Maybe God's nudging you to step in and take on a role, a responsibility that you're not quite sure you're built for, you're not sure you're equipped for. But it's easier just to sit back on the sidelines and be a spectator and just watch. It's safer on the sideline. Or maybe God's been nudging you toward forgiveness, toward initiating that process.

But man, holding onto the hurt, it's powerful. It gives me a sense of safety and security. It's not very costly. See, part of you knows, but there's another part. Another part is ready to run, another part's ready just to leave.

See, Jonah reminds us that we may outrun God's call, but we can't outrun his grace. See, I think Jonah heading for that boat down at Joppa to take him to Tarshish. At first, he probably felt like it was working, right, creating distance. I don't have to see those people. I don't have to think about that until the storm hits, right?

There's always a storm. And the waves start crashing over the boat, and the sailors are panicking and the ship is threatening to break apart. And they go down to find Jonah. And you know where Jonah is? He's in the hull of the ship.

And what's he doing? Praying. Dear, get stuff. No snoozing. He's sleeping.

In the middle of a storm that's threatening to break apart the ship. He's sleeping. Now, if you've been to church before, does that sound like a story you've heard? Maybe in the New Testament, if you've looked at Luke or Matthew 8, or Mark, chapter 4, Jesus and His disciples are crossing over the lake, and a storm hits. And it's literally crashing.

Same language, crashing over, threatening to break the ship apart. And they go to find Jesus. And where is Jesus sleeping Now, I wish we had time to dive into all the parallels. There are tons of parallels in this story, but I think all of them keep pointing us back to this reality. Jonah was running from God.

Jesus was following God. Jonah was the creator of chaos. Jesus is the one who calms the storm, who's able to bring life out of chaos. See, desperate and exasperated Jesus disciples, they find him sleeping. And we're told in Luke 8, in fear and amazement, they ask one another, who is this?

He commands the winds and the water, and they obey him.

Jesus doesn't run and hide. Jesus calms the storm for Jonah, though he eventually realizes the storm is there for him. And so he tells the sailors, throw me overboard. And in this incredible story unfolds, God appoints a fish, Right? The part we all remember, God appoints a fish who swallows Jonah up.

I think it's fascinating. The sailors don't want to throw him overboard. They actually show more courage, going, hey, we'd rather get rid of cargo. The stuff that's going make us money, then throw you overboard. Even though we don't know you, we're not really sure your story.

But eventually they relent. They throw him over into the deep, into the darkness. Jonah sinks, but God appoints a fish to swallow him. And it's there in the darkness that this prayer that Betty read for us just a moment ago, these words, in my distress, I called to the Lord and he answered me from deep in the realm of the dead. I called for help and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas. And the currents swirled around me. All your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, I've been banished from your sight. Yet I will look again toward your holy temple.

The engulfing waters threatened me. The deep surrounded me. Seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down. The earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you, God, brought my life up from the pit. Jonah's prayer is vivid. It's desperate. It's raw, it's unfiltered. He's in the depths.

And yet even there, God is listening and he's ready to rescue him. Remember the last time you prayed that way?

I know in church we're not really supposed to talk about those kind of prayers, but those raw, unfiltered prayers. When you recognize I'm in the deep, I've gone way further than I can go. I mean, the truth is, most of those kind of prayers come from the deep, right? They come from the deep waters of a hospital bed or a broken relationship or a moment when we, like Jonah, realize all of our plans that we have made have come for naught. They're not working.

And so Jonah's prayer begins in this distress. But eventually he finds his way, new direction. But you, Lord, brought my life up from the pit, he says.

Now. It's interesting, this story. Kind of a strange twist, an irony, if you will. The fish that swallowed Jonah actually saved his life.

If Jonah had just been left in the deep, he would have drowned. But God appoints a fish to swallow him.

You see, the thing that looked like God's judgment, like it was all over and it's all done, was actually God's mercy. You know, without that fish, Jonah wouldn't have been there. You see, sometimes the rescue plan that God creates and crafts and builds for us doesn't look the way that we expect. The storm we face, or the consequence we experience or that uncomfortable wake up call that we have to face becomes the very thing that can turn our heart back to God. It's amazing to me that the depths become the place where we can rediscover grace again.

Now, I would imagine in a crowd this size, there's some of us who that rings really true. For this morning, in that place of brokenness and despair, we discovered God's love for us once again. What we felt like was going to be an ending actually became a new beginning for us. Where God meets us in the depths. And then as chapter three opens up, maybe some of the most gracious, kind, merciful words are written.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

God doesn't say, Jonah, you blew it, pal. You're staining that fish.

That's your new normal, bro. Let's see how far that gets you. He doesn't. He says, let's try this again. Same calling, same mission, same opportunity.

The first time Jonah ran away, he resisted, but God's grace wasn't finished with him. And so he gets another time. See, I think it's because God's desire wasn't just to save the people of Nineveh. God's desire was to save Jonah. Jonah wasn't the only.

I mean, Nineveh wasn't the only lost place, the lost people. And that's good news, because many of us, myself included, carry the weight of moments when God gave us a calling and we resisted and we ran. We didn't just say, let me step back and clear my head. We said, I don't want to do that, Lord. I don't want to have that conversation.

I don't want to rebuild that relationship. I don't want to go there. I don't want to see those people. I would be just fine if they disappeared and I didn't have to deal with them ever again. We know that.

That's a familiar song in our catalog.

Let's see. The God of Jonah is the God of second chances.

And so perhaps, maybe God's inviting you into a second chance again. You see, God lifted Jonah up out of the pit. He'll lift you up. He will. Just as he restored Jonah's purpose, he will restore yours.

See, God's grace doesn't just rescue us from something, but he rescues us to something.

So the question we have to ask ourselves this morning is, where are you running from, God? Can we be honest for just a minute? Where are you running from, God? Maybe it's a calling. God's nudging you to rethink the direction of your life.

We gotta like the direction of my life. I like where things are going. I like what I'm doing. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.

Maybe it's obedience. He's challenging some behavior in your life. You can see how it's destroying some things in the world around you, and it's threatening to destroy more, man. It's comfortable, right? We talked some a couple of weeks ago about just that comfort of even though I know it's damaging to me.

It's safer than the unknown, the uncertain, what it might look like. Maybe it's a step of faith. Maybe God's been inviting you to take a courageous step of faith and you're not sure you can trust. But then we get to witness Alice, 8 years old, saying, jesus, I'm all in. I'm all in.

Maybe it's a step of surrender. God's been nudging you to give up control, and that's scary. And you're running. Will you stop? See, maybe like Jonah, the running has already taken you somewhere deep and you're realizing this plan is not going well.

See, the good news of Jonah's story is even when we run, God's grace keeps pursuing. Even when we go down into the depths, when we sink, God meets us in the deep. Even when we fail, God keeps offering us a second chance. So maybe this morning the invitation for us is, would we. Will we stop running?

And will we just offer the prayer of Jonah?

God, in my distress, I call to you. I cry out to you. You don't need perfect words. You just need an open heart.

Maybe today is your day to stop running. Say, God, I'm done resisting. I'm done coming up with excuses or hiding or running away. If you'll give me a second chance, I'll say yes. Because the God of Jonah who rescued him is the God who's ready to rescue us.

His grace runs faster, it stretches further. It never gets tired. It lasts longer than sin ever could.

I've come to love the way that the Jonah story ends. It reminds me of another parable that Jesus told.

It's not all tied up in this nice clean bow. Jonah gets a second chance, and he goes to Nineveh, and he preaches the shortest sermon ever. And I know some of you are thinking, man, I wish Carl would learn a sermon like this. But let me tell you his sermon before you say that, okay? Because it's one line.

You're like, that sounds good. Yeah, but listen to the line. 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. That's all he says. He doesn't open with a story.

Let me tell you about little Bobby over here. He doesn't get some pluck the heartstrings of your heart. And this is why he doesn't even say, we invite you to come to Christ. As we stand and sing, he says, 40 days and it's over. And in his head, he's probably going, and I can't wait to see this.

Now, the crazy thing Is the sermon worked? It's nuts. If you haven't read Jonah 4, you need to read Jonah 3. And into Jonah 4. It works.

The entire city repents. They dress in sackcloth. They even put their donkeys in sackcloth. I mean, put ashes on their heads. It's crazy.

They respond, and Jonah is thrilled. He can't believe it. This is unbelievable. The greatest sermon ever. Oh, wait a minute.

Hold on. Sorry, wrong version. That was first book of opinions. This is Jonah 4.

Jonah's not happy. We heard him before. I knew it. I knew this would happen. I knew it.

You're kind, you're compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love. Isn't this what I was talking about in Jonah 1?

Which makes you think he and God had a couple of conversations. Hey, Jonah, I think I'm gonna send you an Nineveh. I don't think that's a good idea. Lord, have you seen these people? Yeah, but, you know, I have a feeling they're gonna respond.

I don't think so. I don't want to do this. I'm not interested. I know what they're gonna say. Like the older brother in the Prodigal son story, we have this moment God shares this extravagant grace, unbelievable mercy on this city and the guy who just received it.

Right? Jonah, you remember just last chapter, you were in the belly of a fish, bro. You were 80ft underwater in some fish's guts, and God vomited you up on the dry land. How about that for a church Sunday morning reading? Thank you, George.

The only one who got that.

And yet he's the one going, no, this is not cool. This is not okay. Again, this story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, where that story ends with the father outside pleading. And all we hear at the end of that story are the father's words to the son, won't you come in? Won't you come in?

Will you come in? Please come in? And we don't know, did he ever go in. Jonah ends with a similar vein. God saying, should I not have mercy or concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who can't tell their right from their left and also many animals?

Shouldn't I have concern for a place and for a people that I created who are so lost they don't know their right from their left and we don't know right? In my mind's eye, I can play out what I think Jonah said. Absolutely no concern. They didn't have concern. For us and the way that they treated our people.

Why should we have concern for them? We don't know that he says that. We also don't know that he doesn't go, you're not. You're right. How can I be so selfish?

How can I be so foolish after all that you've just done for me? Literally, how could I have this attitude toward God? Forgive me. We don't know what he said.

The truth is. The same is true for you and me. Right? Some of us are like young Jonah, young brother Jonah. We've resisted God's call.

We have run away into the faraway land and we have squandered everything. And we've wound up in the belly of a fish. Others of us, the older brother Jonah, we've been here a while. Lord, we have invested in this. I have spent time, I have sacrificed.

I have given up.

We're running from God's grace. It just looks a little different. So the question is, how will we respond? Will we keep running?

Will us younger brother Jonah's or us older brother Jonah's? Will we stop running? Will we allow God's love and grace to take us from deep to deep? Or will we stand outside God? That's the question I want to chase us this week.

Will we stop running? Will we respond?

This incredible story of calling and purpose and destiny and hope and resistance and running away and betrayal and disobedience.

God, the story that is Jonah's. It's our story. It's our story again. You've called us to be your people, and yet the world around us has put up so many things, so many obstacles.

But if we're really honest, God, our hearts are selfish.

God, would you help us to stop running today? Would you give us the courage to stop and to face the truth? Maybe some of us from the belly of that fish need to just cry out and confess. God, we have run away from what you've called us to do. God, if you would rescue us once again, would you set us out on dry land?

Would you give us a second chance?

Yeah. For others of us, we've been at this a while. We've been burned too many times. Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me.

God, we're not going to fall for it again. And our hearts have just slowly gotten covered by ice or stone.

And we're running even though we're standing still because we know your God is slow. Slow to anger, abounding in love, compassionate, kind. You're the God of 2nd and 3rd and 25th and 137 chances. We're not sure we're ready to show that kind of grace. Oh God, would you meet us in the depths again today?

Would you bring us from death to death the depth of our own selfishness and sin into the depth of your grace? And your love may wash over us once again. Remind us of your incredible love for us that we see in Jesus, the one who brings calm out of the chaos. Jesus, would you bring that calm again today? Would you restore us into our right minds and help us, Father, help us to be your people that will take that second chance and not squander it.

Instead, we'll live on mission God as we look forward to Easter in a couple of weeks. Would you help us to have eyes to see over the next two weeks? Just those who like us are running and who are exhausted And God, would you help us just to make an invitation, a simple ask God, thank you that we have a place like this here at Broadway with men and women who love you, young and old, who just want to put you first in their life. God, we celebrate with the McNeil's and Alice's decision to chase after you all the days. God, would you help us that same courage and hope to stop running, to dive into your depths again today?

Thank you Father for your amazing love. Would you shine it in our hearts again today? In Jesus name we pray.